The Calgary Flames are a franchise very much in transition right now, but their No. 1 goalie is set for a long time.

Flames GM Craig Conroy has a major-league balancing act between his team’s current focus and the long-term big picture. One big piece of Flames business was done Tuesday, signing starting goalie Dustin Wolf to a seven-year contract extension with an average annual value of $7.5 million.

Wolf’s new deal doesn’t kick in until the 2026-27 season, but it represents a significant gamble on a key player, and it could turn into a terrific bargain by the time it’s over.

Of course, there is some risk at play here, especially for a young goalie who's played just 71 NHL games so far and hasn't faced Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers yet.

"I would have loved for him to sign this contract after this upcoming season, just so we have a little more of a sense," Kennedy said on Wednesday's episode of The Big Show.

Wolf’s 2023-24 numbers – including an .893 save percentage and 3.16 goals-against average in 17 appearances – weren’t something Conroy can hang his hat on.

However, in a much bigger sample size last season, Wolf’s numbers were excellent, especially considering he was the last line of defense on a subpar Flames defensive team. In 53 appearances in 2024-25, Wolf posted a .910 SP and a 2.64 GAA.

Those stats are very encouraging if you’re a Flames fan. They're also an encouraging sign that Wolf can learn to adapt to each level. That's how he became the WHL's top goaltender in two straight seasons, the CHL's top goalie, the AHL's top goalie twice and the AHL's MVP.

In fact, after finishing second in Calder Trophy voting last year, Wolf's odds of winning the Vezina Trophy are at 19.00 (+1800), according to BetMGM. (If you think Wolf will win the Hart Trophy, his odds on BetMGM are at 251.00, or +25,000.)

While Wolf’s pay raise isn’t something you can gloss over, the NHL’s salary cap ceiling is rising by a lot in the next couple of years. The upper limit is expected to rise to $104 million in 2026-27 and $113.5 million in 2027-28.

If those figures stand, Wolf’s new salary in 2026-27 will be about 7.21 percent of the upper limit, and it is expected to decrease as the years go on. That’s a wager that won’t destroy Calgary’s big picture, even if it doesn’t pan out the way Conroy projects it will.

Yes, giving Wolf seven years of contract certainty could prove to be a bad investment. But look at how Conroy has structured Wolf’s extension, and you’ll see there are multiple off-ramps for the Flames to travel if things don’t go Wolf’s way.

In the first two seasons of the extension, Wolf has no no-trade or no-move protection at all. And in the final five seasons of the deal, he has only a modified no-trade clause allowing him to veto a trade to 10 teams of his choosing, according to PuckPedia. That leaves plenty of potential trade partners who can pick up his contract, and there would almost certainly be another squad that believes it can bring out the most in Wolf's potential.

But that’s a long way from now. As it stands, the Flames just locked up a rookie-of-the-year finalist at less money per season than teams like the Boston Bruins gave to Jeremy Swayman and like the New York Islanders gave to Ilya Sorokin.

Granted, Wolf hasn’t shown the consistency we’ve seen from Sorokin and Swayman, but Wolf is still only 24. He’s got a lot of runway to stick the landing for the Flames, and he now has the full confidence of his employer. That has to count for something.

The Flames aren’t projected to be a Stanley Cup playoff team anytime soon, but they’ve just committed to Wolf for the foreseeable future. And while there’s some potential downside in the Wolf extension, the upside for Calgary makes this signing well worth the risk.

Wolf is the goalie of the future for the Flames, but he’s also the goalie of the present. And giving him the confidence of knowing he’s ‘The Man’ in Calgary until further notice could help him elevate his game to new, exciting levels.

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